U.S. patent application number 11/513495 was filed with the patent office on 2007-10-18 for mediaset generation system.
Invention is credited to David del ser Bartolome, Guillermo Caudevilla-Laliena, Rick Hangartner, Francisco Martin, Craig Rowley, Marc Torrens.
Application Number | 20070244880 11/513495 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46326004 |
Filed Date | 2007-10-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070244880 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Martin; Francisco ; et
al. |
October 18, 2007 |
Mediaset generation system
Abstract
Disclosed are various embodiments of systems and methods for
generating composite mediasets from mediasets, each comprising
media items, associated with a plurality of users. In some
embodiments, individual and/or group recommendations are provided
for creating a group playlist by aggregating user taste data for a
plurality of users in a group. In other embodiments, systems and
methods are provided which allow for sharing and playing of a group
playlist by users in a group, each of which has a media playback
device. In still other embodiments, systems and methods are
provided for dynamically building a composite playlist that may be
updated as users enter and/or leave the group.
Inventors: |
Martin; Francisco;
(Corvallis, OR) ; Torrens; Marc; (Corvallis,
OR) ; Hangartner; Rick; (Corvallis, OR) ;
Caudevilla-Laliena; Guillermo; (Corvallis, OR) ;
Bartolome; David del ser; (Corvallis, OR) ; Rowley;
Craig; (Corvallis, OR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STOEL RIVES LLP
900 SW FIFTH AVENUE
SUITE 2600
PORTLAND
OR
97204-1268
US
|
Family ID: |
46326004 |
Appl. No.: |
11/513495 |
Filed: |
August 31, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11346818 |
Feb 3, 2006 |
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11513495 |
Aug 31, 2006 |
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60772502 |
Feb 10, 2006 |
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60774072 |
Feb 15, 2006 |
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60796724 |
May 1, 2006 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 ;
707/999.005; 707/E17.009 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/02 20130101;
G06F 16/9535 20190101; H04N 7/163 20130101; H04N 21/4825 20130101;
H04N 21/466 20130101; G06F 16/48 20190101; H04N 21/4668
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/005 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30; G06F 7/00 20060101 G06F007/00 |
Claims
1. A method for generating a group playlist from a plurality of
individual mediasets of users within a group, each user mediaset
comprising a respective plurality of media data items, the method
comprising: performing a taste analysis on a first one of the user
mediasets to generate a first sub-mediaset from the first user
mediaset; performing a taste analysis on a second one of the user
mediasets to generate a second sub-mediaset from the second user
mediaset; and aggregating media data items from the first and
second sub-mediasets to generate a group playlist.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media data items comprise
playable media files.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the media data items each
comprise metadata that identifies a playable media file.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating a
recommended mediaset for the first user based on the first user
taste analysis; and generating a recommended mediaset for the
second user based on the second user taste analysis.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the recommended mediasets
comprises metadata that identifies a playable media file.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of aggregating the media
data items comprises ranking individual media data items by the
number of sub-mediasets in which they appear.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the group playlist includes media
data items comprising songs.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of aggregating the media
data items comprises selecting a set of media data items that
optimizes a utility function for the group.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the utility function is based on
weights associated with individual media data items.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting a set of
media data items that optimizes a utility function for the group
comprises selecting a set of media data items so as to maximize a
sum of selected media data item weights.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of selecting a set of
media data items so as to maximize a sum of selected media data
item weights comprises selecting the media data items that maximize
a sum of the highest weights for each of a plurality of different
media data items in a plurality of user mediasets.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of selecting a set of
media data items that optimizes a utility function for the group
comprises selecting the media data items that maximize a sum of
average media data item weights.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the media data items in
the group playlist can be found in a user mediaset within the
group.
14. A method for generating a dynamic, composite playlist of media
data items for a user group, comprising: retrieving media item
taste data for a plurality of users, wherein the user taste data
for a given user is retrieved in response to the given user joining
the user group; aggregating the media item taste data in the user
group to create a set of optimal playlist characteristics for the
user group; and adding media data items to a group playlist based
at least in part on the set of optimal playlist
characteristics.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the user taste data for a given
user is automatically retrieved as the given user joins the user
group.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein media data items associated
with a given user are retrieved in response to the given user
joining the user group.
17. The method of claim 14, wherein the media data items added to
the group playlist are selected from a central database of media
data items, and wherein the content of the database is independent
of the users in the user group.
18. The method of claim 14, wherein the user taste data for a given
user is removed from the aggregated user taste data in response to
the given user exiting the user group.
19. The method of claim 14, wherein media data items in the group
playlist that were retrieved from a given user are removed from the
group playlist in response to the given user exiting the user
group.
20. The method of claim 14, further comprising subjecting the media
data items in the group playlist to a diversification process.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the diversification process
comprises ensuring that no media data item is repeated in the group
playlist for a predetermined period of time.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein the diversification process
comprises shuffling media data items in the group playlist to
diversify at least one segment of the group playlist that includes
media data items that are overly representative of the tastes of
one or more users.
23. The method of claim 20, wherein the diversification process
comprises determining whether the group playlist is dominated by
media data items representative of the taste of at least one user
and, in response to determining that the group playlist is
dominated by media data items representative of the taste of the at
least one user, removing at least one media data item from the
group playlist that corresponds with the taste of the at least one
user.
24. The method of claim 14, wherein the user taste data for a given
user is retrieved in response to the given user logging into a
network of connected devices to join the user group.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of logging into the
network is accomplished implicitly as the network-connected device
of a given user enters a given proximity.
26. A system for building a composite playlist from the collective
tastes of a plurality of users in a session, each having a separate
media device, comprising: a plurality of session managers, each
associated with one of a plurality of media devices, wherein each
session manager is configured to manage the status of the media
device with which it is associated; a playlist builder for
receiving media item data from the plurality of media devices and
for building a composite playlist of media data items from the
media item data; and a plurality of playlist managers, each
associated with one of a plurality of media devices, wherein each
playlist manager is configured to communicate with the playlist
builder to send the media item data of the media device with which
it is associated to the playlist builder, and wherein each playlist
manager is further configured to play the media data items on the
composite playlist on the media device with which it is
associated.
27. The system of claim 26, wherein the media item data comprises
media item taste data.
28. The system of claim 26, wherein the media item data comprises
metadata that identifies a playlist of playable media files.
29. The system of claim 26, wherein the playlist builder resides on
a central server.
30. The system of claim 29, wherein the plurality of session
managers reside on the server.
31. The system of claim 26, wherein the session managers are
configured to verify the eligibility of media devices to
participate in the session.
32. The system of claim 26, wherein each playlist manager is
configured to stream media files to other media players in the
session.
33. The system of claim 32, wherein the system is configured such
that each media data item in the composite playlist is located on
at least one of the media devices in the session, and wherein each
individual media data item on the composite playlist is played at
least substantially simultaneously on each of the media devices in
the session by causing each of the media data items in the
composite playlist to be streamed from its corresponding media
device to each of the other media devices in the session.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application
Ser. No. 11/346,818 filed Feb. 3, 2006 and titled "Recommender
System for Identifying a New Set of Media Items Responsive to an
Input Set of Media Items and Knowledge Base Metrics." This
application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e) of
U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/772,502 filed Feb. 10,
2006, and titled "System and Method for Building and Sharing a
Composite Playlist from Collective Group Tastes on Multiple Media
Playback Devices." This application also claims the benefit under
35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.
60/774,072 filed Feb. 15, 2006, and titled "Mediaset
Recommendations for a Group of Users." This application also claims
the benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 60/796,724 filed May 1, 2006, and titled
"Dynamically Building Composite Playlist for Merging Collective
User Tastes." Each of the foregoing applications is incorporated
herein by specific reference.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0002] Understanding that drawings depict only certain preferred
embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered
limiting of its scope, the preferred embodiments will be described
and explained with additional specificity and detail through the
use of the accompanying drawings in which:
[0003] FIG. 1 is a diagram of one embodiment of a system for
synthesizing a user's taste by analyzing the user's playlist(s) and
playcounts.
[0004] FIG. 2 is a diagram of one embodiment of a system for using
taste analyses from a plurality of users to generate a plurality of
recommended mediasets.
[0005] FIG. 3 is a diagram of one embodiment of a system for using
recommended mediasets from a plurality of users to generate a
recommended mediaset for a group of users.
[0006] FIG. 4 is a system diagram of a client-server embodiment of
the invention.
[0007] FIG. 5 is a system diagram of a peer-to-peer embodiment of
the invention.
[0008] FIG. 6 depicts the main functional components of a Device
Manager according to one embodiment.
[0009] FIG. 7 depicts a Member Status screen of a Session Manager,
which presents the relevant details of the data structures in the
Session Manager subcomponent of the Device Manager of one
embodiment.
[0010] FIG. 8 is a top-level flow diagram of the operation of the
Session Manager subcomponent of the Device Manager of one
embodiment.
[0011] FIG. 9 is a more detailed flow diagram of the "Prune Session
Members" step in the Session Manager flow diagram of FIG. 8.
[0012] FIG. 10 is a more detailed flow diagram of the "Update
Session Members" step in the Session Manager flow diagram of FIG.
8.
[0013] FIG. 11 is a more detailed flow diagram of the "Service
Proxy Requests" step in the Session Manager flow diagram of FIG.
8.
[0014] FIG. 12 depicts a Playlist Queue screen of a Playlist
Manager, which presents the relevant details of the data structures
in the Playlist Manager subcomponent of the Device Manager of one
embodiment.
[0015] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram showing the operation of the
Playlist Manager subcomponent of the Device Manager of one
embodiment.
[0016] FIG. 14 is a flow diagram showing the operation of the
Playlist Play subcomponent of the Playlist Manager of a Media
Player Client embodiment.
[0017] FIG. 15 depicts the relevant data structures in one
embodiment of the Media Player Client supporting the Playlist
Builder component of the system.
[0018] FIG. 16 presents a conceptual diagram of the playlist
building function of one embodiment.
[0019] FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of the operation of one embodiment
of the Playlist Builder component of the system.
[0020] FIG. 18 is a diagram of a process for generating a list of
media items that define a user taste.
[0021] FIG. 19 is a diagram of a process for computing aggregate
playlist goals and a list of desired categories.
[0022] FIG. 20 is a diagram of a process for computing relevant
media items for each user from total available media items.
[0023] FIG. 21 is a diagram of a process for categorizing relevant
media items according to desired attributes.
[0024] FIG. 22 is a diagram of a process for computing the status
of the current group playlist's achievement of compositional
goals.
[0025] FIG. 23 is a diagram of a process for choosing a set of
media items to add to a group playlist based on assessing needs
according to compositional goal achievement assessment.
[0026] FIG. 24 represents a step of a user addition process for
detecting new users.
[0027] FIG. 25 represents another step of a user addition process
in which new users are added to the system and source device
information is stored.
[0028] FIG. 26 is a diagram of a process for removing users from
the system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0029] In the following description, certain specific details of
programming, software modules, user selections, network
transactions, database queries, database structures, etc., are
provided for a thorough understanding of the specific preferred
embodiments of the invention. However, those skilled in the art
will recognize that embodiments can be practiced without one or
more of the specific details, or with other methods, components,
materials, etc.
[0030] In some cases, well-known structures, materials, or
operations are not shown or described in detail in order to avoid
obscuring aspects of the preferred embodiments. Furthermore, the
described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined
in any suitable manner in a variety of alternative embodiments. In
some embodiments, the methodologies and systems described herein
may be carried out using one or more digital processors, such as
the types of microprocessors that are commonly found in PC's,
laptops, PDA's and all manner of other desktop or portable
electronic appliances.
[0031] Disclosed are embodiments of systems, methods, and apparatus
for generating mediasets comprising a plurality of media data
items. As used herein, the term "media data item" is intended to
encompass any media item or representation of a media item. A
"media item" is intended to encompass any type of media file which
can be represented in a digital media format, such as a song,
movie, picture, e-book, game, etc. Thus, it is intended that the
term "media data item" encompass, for example, playable media item
files (e.g., an MP3 file), as well as metadata that identifies a
playable media file (e.g., metadata that identifies an MP3 file).
It should therefore be apparent that in any embodiment providing a
process, step, or system using "media items," that process, step,
or system may instead use a representation of a media item (such as
metadata), and vice versa.
[0032] In one embodiment, a system to provide recommendations of
mediasets for a given group of users is provided. Embodiments of
such a system may comprise a mechanism to store playlists and/or
playcounts of each member in a community of users. Playlists and
playcounts may be used to define the taste of each user and may
therefore be used in performing taste analyses for each of the
respective users.
[0033] In accordance with the general principles set forth above,
embodiments of the invention may be used to address the problem of
recommending a mediaset or group playlist to a group of users in a
community or network. In some embodiments, a mediaset recommender
may be provided where the input is a set of media items, and the
output is a mediaset of weighted media items. Two illustrative
methods for providing group recommendations of mediasets include:
1) building a common profile that expresses the taste of the group
of users as a whole and applying that profile to the recommender;
and 2) considering individual recommendations of each member taste,
and aggregating the results.
[0034] Media players are typically capable of reproducing all types
of media items and collecting playcounts and playlists. Playcounts
are the number of times a media item has been played in the media
player. Playlists are groupings of media items that users create to
organize their libraries of media items. A system (e.g., a server)
may be used to collect playcounts and playlists of media items of a
community of users.
[0035] Playcounts and playlists of a user may be used to synthesize
her or his taste or perform a taste analysis. In that sense, user's
taste may be considered a collection of the most relevant taste
data considering that user's playcounts and playlists.
[0036] The task of certain embodiments of this system is to
recommend a mediaset for a group of users. A mediaset
recommendation for a group of users may be the result of an
aggregation process of the different mediasets that are recommended
to each user of the group. Thus, some embodiments of this system
may include a component that recommends a mediaset from another
mediaset (by performing an analysis of the taste of each user, for
example). The aggregation process may apply, for example, a voting
schema and/or an optimization schema.
[0037] Mediaset recommendations for a group of users may be useful
in a variety of scenarios. An example is a party where a group of
people want to enjoy music together. Instead of playing the music
that may be recommended to a particular individual in the group, it
may be desirable to play the music that would be recommended to the
group as a whole.
[0038] As such, in certain embodiments, the system's task is to
find a mediaset or playlist to be recommended to a group of users.
In embodiments wherein the system is collecting playcounts and/or
playlists from the users, such a recommender system may be composed
of three main steps: [0039] 1) Synthesizing user tastes; [0040] 2)
Producing recommended mediasets for each user taste; and [0041] 3)
Aggregating the set of recommended mediasets into a single mediaset
to be recommended to the whole group of users.
[0042] It should be understood that numerous variations on the
content, scope, and order of these steps are contemplated. For
example, the step of producing recommended mediasets for each user
taste may be optional.
[0043] FIG. 1 depicts how the taste 108 of a user 100 may be built
from the playcounts 104 and playlists 102 of that user 100 through
a process 106 called Synthesize Taste. It should be understood that
process 106 is one example of a taste analysis. Process 106
produces a taste 108, which may be encoded as a mediaset. As part
of process 106, media items with higher playcounts and/or those
that appear more in playlists may be selected. The selected media
items may include those that are played more often by the user
and/or those that are used in more different contexts and
situations (because they appear in many different playlists). In
some embodiments, playcounts may also be associated with play
dates. In such cases, the process may weigh the playcounts with the
play dates and therefore give more relevance to recent playcounts
than to older playcounts.
[0044] Process 106 may comprise a ranking process of the media
items of a user where items with higher playcounts, more recent
plays, and/or more playlist appearances get a higher ranking. The
process may select the top m ranked media items as the encoding of
the user's taste 108. Note that this process may produce different
results over time for the same user. This may be a desirable
feature in embodiments in which the goal is to encode the taste of
a user as it evolves over time.
[0045] In some embodiments, the system may provide individual
mediaset recommendations. For example, with reference to FIG. 2,
given a group of n users 200, 208, and 216, the system may compute
the individual taste (202, 210, and 218, respectively) for each
user with, for example, the process described above. The system may
provide a recommended mediaset for each user using a recommender
engine (204, 212, and 220, respectively) that processes user tastes
(mediasets 202, 210, and 218) to produce recommended mediasets 206,
214, and 222. It should be understood that a separate recommended
engine may be used for each user (recommender engines 204, 212, and
220), as shown in FIG. 2 or, alternatively, a single recommender
engine may be used for the entire group. Thus, in total the
depicted system may compute n mediasets of m media items.
[0046] In some embodiments, the system may also provide for
aggregating individual recommended media sets into a group
recommended mediaset or group playlist. For example, with reference
to FIG. 3, once the system has computed the n mediasets of m media
items (one for each user 300, 304, 308 of the group), an
aggregation step may be used to produce the final mediaset of p
(p.ltoreq.n*m) media items 314 to be recommended to the group of
users. As shown in FIG. 3, the system may provide an aggregator
312, which takes as input a recommended mediaset (302, 306, and
310, respectively) from each of the users in the group and provides
therefrom a group recommended mediaset 314.
[0047] The aggregation step may be performed, for example, by
following different approaches that serve different goals. As
previously mentioned, in two preferred embodiments, the system may
follow a) a voting schema; or b) an optimization schema. A voting
schema may serve the goal of finding a mediaset that the majority
of users would be happy with, without considering the degree of
dislike by the rest of the members of the group. On the other hand,
an optimization schema may produce a mediaset that minimizes the
dislike (or maximizes the like) of all the members of the group. In
order to apply an optimization schema, the media items in the n
recommended mediasets 302, 306, 310 may each be linked with an
associated weight. The weight of a media item in a mediaset for a
user may be used to indicate the relevance of that media item for
the user.
[0048] With a voting schema, the aggregation process may take the p
media items that appear the most in the n mediasets. If there are
items that appear the same number of times in the n mediasets
(tie-break), then those items may be picked randomly.
[0049] Some recommender engines may produce mediasets having
weighted media items. In such embodiments, when a tie-break
situation happens, instead of picking the items randomly, the
process may pick the media items with highest weights. For example,
considering the following mediasets: [0050] msl={s3,s7,s8,s10}
[0051] ms2={s2,s3,s4,s10} [0052] ms3={s3,s4,s7} then, following the
voting schema described above, the media items (s#) in the
mediasets (ms#) would be ranked as follows: [0053] s1=0, s2=1,
s3=3, s4=2, s5=0, s6=0, s7=2, s8=1, s9=0, s10=2
[0054] Thus, the media items for the recommended group mediaset
would be selected in the following order: s3, s4, s7, s10, s2, s8.
Media items s7 and s10 are in a tie-break situation, so they could
be ordered in accordance with their respective weights within their
mediasets, if any. If the media items do not have associated
weights, then the order of s7 and s10 may be randomized. The same
would apply for items s2 and s8.
[0055] With an aggregation schema, the aggregation process may take
the p media items that optimize some utility function considering
all the users of the group, that is, considering all n mediasets
302, 306, 310. In order to apply the optimization schema, the media
items in the n mediasets 302, 306, 310 may have an associated
weight, for example, in the range from 0 to 1, where 0 means that
the item is not relevant at all and 1 means that the item is the
most relevant. For a given mediaset j, a media item i may therefore
have a weight w(j,i). If a media item i is not in a mediaset j,
then it may be considered to have a weight 0. The following example
illustrates the weights associated with media items for a
collection of mediasets: [0056] ms1={s3,s7,s8,s10} [0057]
ms2={s2,s3,s4,s7, s10} [0058] ms3={s3,s4,s7} [0059] w(1)=[0, 0,
0.1, 0, 0, 0, 0.3, 0.2, 0, 0.9] [0060] w(2)=[0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.4, 0,
0, 0.3, 0, 0, 0.9] [0061] w(3)=[0, 0, 0.1, 0.8, 0, 0, 0.3, 0, 0,
0.5]
[0062] A number of different utility functions may be chosen in
order to aggregate the media items. For example, a utility function
may be selected to maximize the sum for all p selected items of the
highest weight in any of the n mediasets. If it is desired to
select p=3 items in accordance with this utility function, s10, s4,
and s3 would be selected. The sum of the highest weights for these
items is 0.9+0.8+0.5=2.2, which is the maximum we can get with the
above example.
[0063] Alternatively, a utility function may be selected to
maximize the sum for all p selected items of the lowest weight in
any of the n mediasets. If it is desired to select p=3 items in
accordance with this utility function, s10, s7, and s3 would be
selected. The sum of the lowest weights for these items is
0.5+0.3+0.1=0.9, which is the maximum we can get with the above
example.
[0064] As still another alternative, a utility function may be
selected to maximize the sum for all p selected items of the mean
weight of all of the n mediasets. If it is desired to select p=3
items in accordance with this utility function, s10, s4, and s7
would be selected. The sum of the average of weights for these
items is 2.3/3+1.2/3+0.9/3=1.16, which is the maximum we can get
with the above example. Of course, other utility functions may be
employed, as will be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the
art.
[0065] A recommender engine may be provided in some embodiments. In
embodiments that do not include a recommender engine, the mediasets
that encode the user tastes may be directly aggregated to form the
mediaset that would be recommended to the whole group of users.
[0066] A system using the recommender engine may propose mediasets
to discover new music, whereas a system that does not provide a
recommender engine may propose mediasets with media items already
known by at least one of the users in the group.
[0067] As should be apparent, the aforementioned systems and
methods may produce mediaset recommendations for a group of n users
so as to enable proposing a mediaset that can be enjoyed
simultaneously by a group of users. The system may analyze user
tastes from playlists and/or playcounts, so as to allow the user
tastes to be represented as mediasets. These n user tastes can be
then the input of a recommender engine that may suggest another n
mediasets. An aggregation process that takes these mediasets and
produces a single group mediaset may also be provided. Such a
process can be done using, for example, a voting schema or an
optimization schema. Similar systems may operate without a
recommender engine. In such embodiments, the aggregation process
may operate with the mediasets that represent the tastes of the n
users, and the result may comprise a mediaset that can be
recommended to the whole group of users.
[0068] Additional embodiments are disclosed and described with
reference to FIGS. 4-14. In some of these embodiments, composite
playlists may be built of media items in individual libraries on
multiple media devices in a common location and/or through a
communication network. The media devices in the group may include
portable and/or non-portable devices. A means for playing the
composite playlist may step through the playlist in sequence and
cause the media player with the indicated media item to stream it
to one or more of the other players where possible. Such
embodiments may operate under, for example, a client-server
architecture or a P2P distributed architecture. These embodiments
may therefore be used to coordinate a set of media players to
transmit media items on the specified group playlist in streaming
fashion to each of the individual media players, or to a specified
subset of the media players, in the sequential order they are
listed on the group playlist. This may be accomplished without
transferring standalone copies of the media items between the
various media players.
[0069] Those skilled in the art will recognize that systems
incorporating the features of one or more of the above-described
embodiments may be realized as a collection of media devices whose
design embodies the disclosed functional behavior, as a collection
of layered protocols in the 7-level ISO Open Systems
Interconnection Reference Model, or as an application task in media
devices communicating using standard networking protocols.
[0070] Some preferred implementations will consist of three major
components. The first component is a plurality of Session Managers
which collectively coordinate the information needed to designate
and manage the status of each media player with regard to a
plurality of other media player devices engaged in a period of
collaborative activity referred to as a "session". In a preferred
implementation, one Session Manager may be associated with each
media player device, although this need not be the case in all
implementations. The Session Managers may include means for
verifying the eligibility of each device to join the session. This
may be accomplished by virtue of the eligible users being
subscribed to a service, which may provide legal access to the
media items to be collectively enjoyed.
[0071] The second component of the aforementioned implementation is
a Playlist Builder, which may reside, for example, on one of the
media players, on a server, on a network access controller included
in the system, or on a third-party server accessible to the media
player devices through a communication network. The Playlist
Builder may use information, such as taste data, available about
the users in the group, and the collective set of media items
available to the media players, to build a group playlist
compatible with the collective tastes of the group.
[0072] The third component of the aforementioned implementation is
a plurality of Playlist Managers, one associated with each media
player device, which collectively communicate with the Playlist
Builder to provide the information needed to build the group
playlist and to play the media items on the group playlist. The
Playlist Manager associated with each media player device may
include functionality for communicating the availability of media
items on the media player device, either in a local library or from
a media streaming service accessible by a media player, for
example. The Playlist Manager may also include a Playlist Play
subcomponent, which may work in coordination with the counterpart
subcomponents on the other media players in the session to step
through each item on the group playlist, and may be configured to
cause the media player associated with a media item to stream it to
one or more of the other players as each media item is
encountered.
[0073] With reference again to the drawings, further aspects of
certain embodiments will now be described in greater detail. Two
such alternative embodiments are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is
a system diagram of a client-server embodiment 400 and FIG. 5 is a
system diagram of a peer-to-peer embodiment 500. Both embodiments
of the invention may have the same essential components. However,
the client-server embodiment 400 of FIG. 4 will be described in
greater detail herein than the peer-to-peer embodiment.
Nevertheless, It should be understood that the disclosure provided
herein may apply equally to the peer-to-peer system with the
appropriate system organizational differences, as depicted in the
figures.
[0074] The key components of a client-server embodiment 400 are the
server functional unit 402 and one or more Media Player Device
clients 404. The server 402 may include three basic functional
components: 1) A Session Access Controller 408, which may be used
to grant permission for an individual media player to join the
collaborative interaction between devices; 2) A Playlist Builder
410, may be used to construct the list and sequence of media items
to be played in the group playlist during the session; and 3) A
Device Manager 406 for each Media Player Device 404 in the session,
which may be used to control the session-related functions of the
device.
[0075] The peer-to-peer embodiment 500, as shown in FIG. 5, also
includes a plurality of media player devices 504. Each of the media
player devices 504 may include a device manager 506. A network
access controller 502 may also be provided, which includes a
session access controller 508 and a playlist builder 510 for
receiving media item data from the plurality of media devices and
for building a composite playlist of media data items from the
media item data.
[0076] The device manager for each media player device may include
a session manager and a playlist manager. For example, FIG. 6
depicts a device manager 602 having a session manager 604 and a
playlist manager 606. Session manager 602 may be configured to
manage the status of the media device with which it is
associated.
[0077] FIG. 7 depicts a Member Status screen 702 that is associated
with one embodiment of a session manager. As shown in FIG. 7, the
session manager may track a series of categories of information for
each of the media players in the session, such as ID, proxy,
status, and time period information.
[0078] Playlist manager 606 may be configured to communicate with a
playlist builder to send the media item data of the media device
with which it is associated to the playlist builder and to play the
media data items on the composite playlist on the media device with
which it is associated.
[0079] As shown in FIG. 4 for the server-client configuration, and
FIG. 5 for the peer-to-peer configuration, each media player device
404 may have an associated instance of the device manager 602 of
FIG. 6. In addition, the server 402 and network access controller
502 may include a single instance of the session access controller
408, 508 and the playlist builder 410, 510.
[0080] The session access controller 408, 508 may interact, as
described in greater detail later, with the session manager 604 in
the device manager 602 of each media device 404 in a system to
define the set of media devices comprising a session, and to enable
communications between them. Similarly, the playlist builder 410,
510 may operate with the playlist manager 606 in the device manager
602 to define and perform a sequence of media items in a
session.
[0081] FIG. 8 presents a top-level flow diagram of one embodiment
of a session manager 604 in a device manager 602. The session
manager of an individual media player device may be used to
negotiate the introduction, operation, and departure of the device
in a media playing session (henceforth "session"). This may include
maintaining knowledge of all other media players devices in the
session.
[0082] The session manager 604 may assume the presence of a single
session access controller 408 on a server system 402 in the
client-server configuration, or on a privileged peer-to-peer
network access system 502 in the peer-to-peer configuration. In
peer-to-peer embodiments, the network access system could be
implemented on the system found in some peer-to-peer networks,
which hosts network-level functions, while in other embodiments it
could be implemented on one peer system in the network.
[0083] The session access controller's primary function in some
embodiments is to serve a session sID code in response to a
"request-to-enter" session message from devices seeking admission
into a session as an indication permission has been granted to the
device. In some embodiments, that permission may be granted if the
media player mID code from the device supplied with the
"request-to-enter" message is recognized as an mID eligible for
admission to a session. In other embodiments, the session access
controller may instead supply a dynamic mID back to the requesting
media player device to serve as a unique identifier for the device
in the context of the session along with the returned session sID
code. In some embodiments, the session access controller may
largely be functional in the networking protocol for the underlying
communications network linking the media player devices, and the
mID and sID may be codes derived from parameters in the network
protocol that identify devices and communication sessions or
transactions.
[0084] The session manager may include two major subfunctions 802
and 806, as shown in FIG. 8. Subfunction 802 mediates the admission
of the media player into a session while subfunction 806 implements
the process by which the media player maintains cognizance of the
other media players in the session via the communication network
linking.
[0085] The starting step for the session manager flow diagram of
FIG. 8 assumes the media player is not participating in a session.
As shown in the subfunction of 802, the session manager broadcasts
a "request-to-enter" message with an optional "mID" code. If the
media device successfully communicates with a session access
controller that grants the media player access to a session, the
media player will receive an "enter-session-sID" message indicating
that the media player has been granted permission to enter the
session identified by the sID code. In embodiments having only one
session, the sID code would be superfluous and may be omitted or a
default value returned.
[0086] If an "enter-session-sID" response message is not received,
the session manager waits a random amount of time before
transmitting another "request-to-enter" message. In some
embodiments, the session manager may just wait a random amount of
time after transmitting a "request-to-enter" message before
transmitting another "request-to-enter" message if an
"enter-session-sID" response is not received. In other embodiments,
the session manager may wait a fixed amount of time after sending
the "request-to-enter" message and then, if no "enter-session-sID"
response is received, wait a random amount of time before
transmitting the next "request-to-enter" message. In yet other
embodiments, the session manager may wait until some external event
occurs after sending the "request-to-enter" message, rather than
receiving an "enter-session-sID", and then wait a random amount of
time before transmitting the next "request-to-enter" message.
[0087] Upon receipt of an "enter-session-sID" response from the
session access controller, the session manager broadcasts the
"in-session-mId-mId-status-sID" message, as indicated at 804. By
broadcasting this message, the session manager indicates its
presence in the session to the session managers in all of the other
devices in the session. The parameters of this message (mID, mID,
status, sID), are the mID of this media player device, the mID of
another media player device in the session that knows about this
device by proxy (set here to the mID of this media player device
because no proxy is involved), the status of the playlist manager
component 606 of the device manager 602, and the session sID.
[0088] After broadcasting the "in-session-mId-mId-status-sID"
message, the session manager initiates the subfunction 806, which
maintains knowledge of the other media players in the session
identified by a particular sID. Subfunction 806 is a polling loop
that maintains the information in a session manager state data
structure, such as that shown in FIG. 7. The Device Manager 602 in
each media player maintains a copy of the session manager state
autonomously for each session, as identified by a unique sID, in
which the media player is a participant. This state information may
include several elements for each of the other media players in the
session known to the subject media player: One such element is the
mID of the media player. Another is the mID (referred to as the
pmID) of the proxy media player in the session known to the subject
media player, which knows the media player identified by mID is in
the session, even if that media player is not known directly to the
subject media player. A third example is the status of the media
player. Still another example is the amount of time since this
media player was last affirmatively known to be in the current
session by the subject media player.
[0089] The polling loop in Subfunction 806 may be executed a number
of times "n" as determined by the implementation. This number is
relatively arbitrary, and typically is selected to achieve a
desired "liveliness" criteria for the session manager and the
session maintenance protocol. "Liveliness" here refers to how often
the subject media player indicates its presence in the session to
the other media players in the session. As the flow diagram
indicates at 804, the session manager may broadcast an
"in-session-mid-mid-status-sid" message to the other media players
to indicate the subject media player is still active in the session
and make its status known to those media players if the session
manager state data table 702 includes entries for other media
players. If the session manager state data table 702 is empty, the
session manager may instead revert to searching for a session to
join by initiating the session join subfunction 802.
[0090] Subfunction 806 may maintain knowledge of the other media
players in the session by repetitively executing the three
processes 810, 812, and 814 shown in FIG, 8, each of which are
shown in greater detail in FIGS. 9-11, respectively. The "Prune
Session Members" process 810 scans the session manager state data
structure 702 and removes entries corresponding to media players
from which the subject media player has not received an affirmative
indication that they are still in the session, and therefore are
inferred to have left the session. The "Update Session Members"
process 812 processes messages from other media players that are
therefore inferred to have joined or remained in the session.
Finally, the "Service Proxy Requests" process 814 responds to
requests from other media players if the session manager state data
structure 702 includes an entry for a media player known directly
to the subject media player that has been only known to another
media player by proxy via the subject media player.
[0091] Describing each of the processes 810, 812, and 814 in turn,
the "Prune Session Members" process 810 (FIG. 9) may perform one of
the following three operations on the entry for each media player i
in the session manager data structure 702.
[0092] 1) The entry is removed if the time[i] that the media player
was last affirmatively known to the subject media player exceeds an
implementation specified timeout value. A "proxy-session-mID-sID"
query is then broadcast to request if the media player
corresponding to the removed entry is still known to another media
player in the session.
[0093] 2) A "proxy-session-mID-sID" query is broadcast to request
if the media player is still known to another media player in the
session, and the media player entry status has been marked as
"cued" (meaning that the media player was scheduled to perform a
track by the Playlist Manager process described below), and if one
of the two following conditions exist: a) If the time[i] that the
media player was last affirmatively known to the subject media
player exceeds an implementation specified cued timeout value,
meaning that the subject media player did not receive an indication
that the media player corresponding to the entry transmitted a
state change out of the cued state; b) If the time[i] that the
media player was last affirmatively known to the subject media
player does not exceed an implementation specified cued timeout
value, but the media player corresponding to the entry is only
known to the subject media by proxy via another media player in the
session. In this case, the subject media player would only learn of
a state change by the media player corresponding to the entry if
that state change is broadcast by the proxy media player in
response to the "proxy-session-mID-sID" query.
[0094] 3) Nothing is done to the entry for the media player in the
event neither of the above conditions apply.
[0095] The "Update Session Members" process 812 (FIG. 10) receives
the "in-session-mID-pmID-status-sID" messages broadcast by the
session manager and the "Service Proxy Requests" process 814 and
updates the session manager state data structure 702. The process
assumes that the protocol of the network over which the media
players communicate buffers all "in-session-mID-pmID-status-sID"
messages until they can be processed. Each received message in
which the message sID matches the ID of the session is processed in
one of the five following ways:
[0096] 1) An entry corresponding to the media player with the mID
of the message is added to the Session Manager state data structure
if no entry with mID as the ID already exists.
[0097] 2) If the mID and the pmlD of the message match, implying
that this message was transmitted by a media player that is now
directly known to the subject media player, the entry in the data
table for the media player with mID is updated with the status from
the message. The time since the media player with mID was last
affirmatively known to the subject media player may be reset to 0
seconds.
[0098] 3) The entry in the data table for the media player with mID
may be updated with the proxy media player pmID and the status from
the received "in-session-mID-pmID-status-sID" message if several
conditions apply simultaneously: a) the received message is a proxy
message (miID, pmID differ); b) the media player referenced by the
message is currently known to the subject media by proxy (mID, pmID
for the entry in the Session Manager state data structure differ)
or the time since the media player with mID was last affirmatively
known to the subject media player has exceeded an implementation
timeout value; and c) the status of the referenced media player is
unknown or the status in the message is idle. The time since the
media player with mID was last affirmatively known to the subject
media player may be reset to 0 seconds.
[0099] 4) The entry in the data table for the media player with mID
may be updated with just the proxy media player pmID from the
received "in-session-mID-pmID-status-sID" message if several
conditions apply simultaneously: a) the received message is a proxy
message (miID, pmID differ); b) the media player referenced by the
message is currently only known to the subject media by proxy (mID,
pmID for the entry in the Session Manager state data structure
differ) or the time since the media player with mID was last
affirmatively known to the subject media player has exceeded an
implementation timeout value; and c) the status of the referenced
media player is known and the status in the message is not idle.
The time since the media player with mID was last affirmatively
known to the subject media player may be reset to 0 seconds.
[0100] 5) Nothing is done if the received
"in-session-mID-pmID-status-sID" is a proxy message (miID, pmID
differ), the media player referenced by the message is currently
known to the subject media player (mID, pmID for the entry in the
session manager state data structure match), and the time since the
referenced media play was last affirmatively known to the subject
media player does not exceed an implementation-defined timeout
value.
[0101] The "Service Proxy Request" process 814 (FIG. 11) provides
information about any media players the subject media player
affirmatively knows to the other media players in the session in
response to the "proxy-session-mID-sID" request messages, which may
have been broadcast by the "Prune Session Members" process 810 of
any media player in the session identified by sID. As with the
"Update Session Members" process, this process assumes that the
protocol of the network over which the media players communicate
buffers all "proxy-session-mID-sID" messages until they can be
processed. Each received "proxy-session-mID-sID" message in which
the message sID matches the ID of the session may be processed in
one of the four following ways:
[0102] 1) An "in session-mID-pmID-status-sID" message is broadcast,
where pmID=mID and the status is that of the subject media player,
if the subject media player corresponds to the mID of the
request.
[0103] 2) An "in session-mID-pmID-status-sID" message is broadcast,
where pmID=mID, and the mID and status parameters are those in the
session manager state data structure 702 for the media player
referenced by the query, if the media player mID of the query is
known affirmatively to the subject media player (mID of the query
and pmID in the state manager state data structure match).
[0104] 3) An "in session-mID-pmID-status-sID" message is broadcast,
where the pmID and status parameters are those in the session
manager state data structure 702 for the media player referenced by
the query, if the media player mID of the query is only known to
the subject media player by proxy (mID of the query and pmID in the
State Manager state data structure differ).
[0105] 4) Nothing is broadcast if the "proxy-session-mID-sID"
message does not reference the subject media player or a media
player in the Session Manager state data structure 402 known to the
subject media player.
[0106] The Playlist Manager of an individual media player device
may consist of two major subfunctions: First, the "Playlist Queue
Updater" process 1300, as depicted in FIG. 13, which negotiates the
sharing of playlist information between the media playing devices
in the session. And, second, the "Playlist Play Sequencer" process
1400, as depicted in FIG. 14, which controls performance of the
media items by the subject media player.
[0107] The Playlist Manager 1200 (FIG. 12) assumes the presence of
a single Playlist Builder on a server system in the client-server
configuration, or on a privileged peer-to-peer network access
system in the peer-to-peer configuration. In peer-to-peer
embodiments, the playlist builder could be implemented on the
system found in some peer-to-peer networks, which hosts
network-level functions, while in other embodiments it could be
implemented on one peer system in the network. The "Playlist Queue
Updater" may provide the data from the media player to the Playlist
Builder that is used in the playlist building process. The Playlist
Builder will be described in detail subsequently.
[0108] The Playlist Manager 1200 also assumes that the media player
makes available several data items relevant to the playlist
building process depicted conceptually in FIG. 15. In some
embodiments, the media player device 1502 may store media items in
a local library 1506, and provide a mechanism for querying the
local directory 1508 to determine whether a specific media item is
available for performance by the media player. in other
embodiments, the media player 1502 may download or stream media
items from a remote service over a communication network on demand,
and provide a mechanism for querying a directory 1504 of media
items available from the remote service for performance by the
media player. FIG. 15 also depicts several other data items
maintained by the media player relevant to the playlist building
process, including indication 1510 of a media item that should be
preemptively added to the playlist, and lists of items 1512, 1514,
and 1516 of items that user does not want added, added
preferentially, and added if at all possible, respectively, to the
playlist.
[0109] FIG. 13 presents a top-level flow diagram of the "Playlist
Queue Updater" process 1300. As the figure illustrates, this may be
a repetitive process performed ad infinitum. The "Playlist Queue
Updater" first determines if the user of the subject media player
has requested that a particular media item be added to the playlist
being built, and sends a "force-iid-pid-length-sid" message to the
Playlist Builder if so. This message specifies the media item by
iID, the pID of the media player (this is the same value as mID
used by the Session Queue Updater described previously), the length
in time units of the media item, and the sID for the session.
[0110] After any user request that a specific media item be added
to the playlist has been processed, the "Playlist Queue Updater"
then checks if a "have-iID-sID" request message has been received
from the Playlist Builder inquiring whether the subject media
player can provide a specific media item for the playlist. The
process assumes that the protocol of the network over which the
media players communicate buffers all "have-iiD-sID" request
messages until they can be processed. Each received message in
which the message sID matches the ID of the session may be
processed in one of three following ways:
[0111] 1) A "have-iID-pID-length-sid" message is broadcast if the
subject media player pID has access to the requested media item iiD
with length "length" from a local library of media items.
[0112] 2) A "have-iID-pID-length-sid" message is broadcast if the
subject media player pID does not have access to the requested
media item iiD with length "length" from a local library of media
items, but does have access to the requested media item from a
remote service.
[0113] 3) No response is broadcast if the media player does not
have access to the requested media item.
[0114] In some embodiments, the "Playlist Queue Updater" may take
into account the user's preferences with regard to media items, as
indicated by the lists 1512, 1514, and 1516 in determining whether
to supply a "have-iID-pID-length-sid" message in response to a
"have-iID-sID" request message. For example, the "Playlist Queue
Updater" may not respond to the "have-iID-sID" message even if the
requested item is in the catalog 1504 or 1506 of the device if it
is also on the "no play" list 1512. Similarly, the "Playlist Queue
Updater" may respond optionally according to some statistical or
other criteria if the item is on the "preferred" list 1514. And the
"Playlist Queue Updater" may always respond if the item is on the
"must play" list 1514.
[0115] The last step in an iteration of the "Playlist Queue
Updater" flow diagram processes at least one
"queue-iID-pID-length-sID" message from the Playlist Builder, if
any have been received. The process assumes that the protocol of
the network over which the media players communicate buffers all
"queue-iID-pID-length-sID" messages until they can be processed. In
some embodiments, the "Playlist Queue Updater" may process only a
single "queue-iID-pID-length-sID" message per iteration by adding
an entry to the Playlist Queue data structure in the Playlist
Manager, consisting of the iID, length, and pID items from the
message. In other embodiments, it may process multiple or all
pending "queue-iID-pID-length-sID" messages.
[0116] In one embodiment, performance of the playlist is, in
effect, directed by the Playlist Builder. As described later, the
Playlist Builder may broadcast a "queue-iId-pID-length-sid" message
to all the media players in the session requesting that media item
be added to the Playlist Queue data structure 1202 in the Playlist
Manager 1200. The Playlist Builder sends this message at the actual
time the media item should be performed and the media player
accepts that message as a command to perform the specified media
item. In a variant of this embodiment, the Playlist Builder may
send this message just sufficiently before the time the media item
should be performed to allow the media item to perform any
processing required to initiate the performance by the time the
performance is to start.
[0117] In another embodiment, the "Playlist Play Sequencer" process
1400 of the Playlist Manager 1200 shown in FIG. 14 locally
coordinates the performance of the items on the playlist that are
actually performed by the subject media player with the performance
of the other media items on the playlist by the appropriate media
players. All media players in the session may have a copy of the
Playlist Queue 1202. This copy may be imperfect: It could be
missing items at the head of the queue that were put on the
playlist before the subject media player joined the session, or in
the middle of the queue due to communication failures. The Playlist
Play Sequencer may cause the subject media player to synchronize
its performances of individual media items with the performance of
media items by other media players in the session in the presence
of these possible gaps in the playlist.
[0118] The "Playlist Play Sequencer" 1400 may be an iterative
process which achieves the synchronized performance in the presence
of gaps by processing the item at the head of the Playlist Queue
1202 in, for example, one of the three following ways:
[0119] 1) If the pID of the media item at the head of the queue is
not the pID of the subject media player, corresponding to the left
branch of the flow diagram, the "Playlist Play Sequencer"
essentially just idles, monitoring the status of the media player
with mID=pID in the Session Members state data structure 702 until
it is inferred that the media item has been performed. The subject
media player infers the media item has been performed when either a
transition from played to idle is observed, or the value of the
local playtime timer exceeds the performance length of the media
item.
[0120] 2) If the pID of the media item at the head of the queue is
the pID of the subject media player, and the Session Members state
data structure 702 does not include an entry for another media
player with the status value playing, corresponding to the middle
branch of the flow diagram, the "Playlist Play Sequencer" plays the
media item. The status of the subject media player is set to
playing while the item is being performed, and then set back to
idle after the performance is finished to signal the performance to
the other media players in the session.
[0121] 3) If the pID of the media item at the head of the queue is
the pID of the subject media player, but the Session Members state
data structure 702 includes an entry for another media player with
the status value playing, corresponding to the right branch of the
flow diagram, the performance of the media item is postponed. The
"Playlist Play Sequencer" repeatedly traverses this branch of the
flow diagram until no other media player has the status value cued,
and then sets the status value for the subject media player to
cued. On the next iteration the "Playlist Play Sequencer" takes the
middle branch of the flow diagram and performs the media item as
described above.
[0122] As previously described, the Playlist Manager of the Device
Manager in each media player device may assume the existence of an
autonomous Playlist Builder on the server system in the
client-server configuration, or on a privileged peer-to-peer
network access system in the peer-to-peer configuration. In
peer-to-peer embodiments, the playlist builder could be implemented
on the system found in some peer-to-peer networks which
hostsnetwork-level functions, while in other embodiments it could
be implemented on one peer system in the network.
[0123] FIG. 16 depicts how the Playlist Builder 1606 draws on a
knowledge base 1604 of information about media items to compose a
playlist of media items in the playlist queue 1608 from the pool of
media items 1602 available to the media playing devices in the
session.
[0124] FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of the playlist builder 1606
process. The process assumes the availability of a method for
generating the IDs of media items that are candidates for inclusion
in the playlist. Candidates may be proposed based on many criteria,
including information in the knowledge base 1604, and knowledge of
the preferences of the users whose media players are participating
in the session.
[0125] The "Playlist Builder" may be an iterative process that adds
a single media item to the playlist per iteration. Each iteration
may include three steps:
[0126] 1) A candidate media item with ciID is generated based on
information in the knowledge base 1604 and/or other criteria. A
"who-has-ciID-sID" query is broadcast to all of the media players
in the session to determine if any of them has access to the
proposed media item.
[0127] 2) If the Playlist Queue Manager of any of the media players
in the session has previously broadcast an unprocessed
"force-iID-pID-length-sID" message, the requested media item iID is
added to the playlist 2108. The Playlist Builder may broadcast a
"queue-iID-pID-length-sID" message to all of the media players in
the session, directing that they each add the requested media item
to their local playlist that their Playlist Queue Manager is
maintaining.
[0128] 3) After an implementation-determined delay, a determination
is made if the Playlist Queue Manager of any of the media players
in the session has broadcast an unprocessed
"have-iID-pID-length-sID" response message, indicating that a media
player in the session has access to the requested media item iID.
As one or more of the media players may have access to the
requested item, one of those media players is selected either at
random, or according to some other criteria, as the media player
that will perform that media item and the item is added to the
playlist. The Playlist Builder may then broadcast a
"queue-iID-pID-length-sID" message to all of the media players in
the session directing that they each add the requested media item
to their local playlist maintained by their Playlist Queue Manager
1100.
[0129] The process assumes that the protocol of the network over
which the media players communicate buffers all
"force-iID-pID-length-sID" request messages and
"have-iID-pID-length-sID" until they can be processed. In any
particular embodiment, one or more of each type of message may be
processed per iteration. In addition, as the flow diagram
indicates, steps 2) and 3) may be repeated a number of times
limited by a timeout value to increase the responsiveness of the
communications between the Playlist Builder and the media player
devices.
[0130] The Playlist Builder iterations may be repeated ad
infinitum. The playlist is a non-terminating sequence of media
items to be performed so long as there is at least one media player
in the session. Furthermore, some embodiments may support building
playlists consisting solely of media items suggested by users of
the media devices, and communicated to the Playlist Builder with
the "force-iID-pID-length-sID" request message, by providing an
option for setting a option flag to "false" so that the "auto
build?" tests in the flow diagram fail.
[0131] Still other implementations are disclosed and described with
reference to FIGS. 18-26. In these embodiments, playlists of
selected media items may be dynamically built from a collection of
media items based on the preferences of a temporally-defined group
of users with media player devices. Compositional goals and the
collection of media items available to meet those goals may be
dynamically computed using, for example, the composite taste data
for the group as a whole as individual users enter and leave the
group.
[0132] Some embodiments therefore relate to methods for dynamically
creating a playlist of media items responsive to the collective
tastes of a temporally-defined group of individuals. Some
embodiments also provide for dynamically diversifying the group
playlist so that it does not in whole, or in part, unduly reflect
the taste of a single member of the group, or a particular subgroup
of users within the whole group.
[0133] Additional embodiments may provide for a system and method
for dynamically building a playlist of media items by using the
collective taste preferences of the members of a group to determine
compositional goals of the playlist, and then building a group
playlist that achieves those compositional goals. The system may
derive the compositional goals by analyzing the taste preferences
of the current members of the group. Media items available to
achieve those goals are typically a subset of the media items that
are identified in response to analyzing taste data and may be
selected from a collection of media items available to the system.
The collection of available media items may be the aggregate of the
sub-collections of media items provided by the users or,
alternatively, may be a pre-existing set of media items stored, for
example, in a central database.
[0134] In a preferred implementation of the system, three primary
processes are provided. The first process keeps track of users as
they enter and/or leave the group by starting or ending
communications with the system using, for example, individual
networked communication devices. Example embodiments include
Bluetooth.RTM. devices and other devices communicating in an ad-hoc
network of Internet or other network-connected devices using, for
example, the Apple Bonjour protocol. Users with individual
communication devices may be added to and/or removed from the group
by the system as they implicitly or explicitly connect and
disconnect from the communication network, which links the
individual devices to the computational means for building the
group playlist.
[0135] As a user enters the group, the system may retrieve the
user's taste data. Taste data may be retrieved by, for example,
accessing a database of taste data from users known to the system
or by requesting taste data directly from the users' communication
devices and adding it to the pool of taste data for the group. As a
user leaves the group, the system may also be configured to remove
that user's taste data from the pool of taste data for the group.
In some embodiments in which the media items available for
inclusion in a playlist are provided by users and not centrally
maintained by the system, the system may maintain a pool of media
items available for the current group.
[0136] Using the pool of taste data for the group, and the pool of
media items available for inclusion on a playlist, the first
process may derive compositional goals for the playlist, such as
requiring that the values for the selected media items of a
specific attribute have a specified distribution. In some
embodiments, the first process may also involve selecting a subset
of media items from the total pool of media items to be used to
build the playlist. This may be accomplished using a media item
recommender, such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 11/346,818 titled "Recommender System for Identifying a New Set
of Media Items Responsive to an Input Set of Media Items and
Knowledge Base Metrics," which is incorporated herein by reference
in its entirety. The aforementioned media item recommender may be
used to recommend media items responsive to an input set of media
items.
[0137] The second process may build the composite playlist by
selecting media items from the total pool of media items in a
manner which causes the evolving playlist to more closely
approximate the specified compositional goal as the selected items
are added to the playlist. Some implementations of the system may
therefore be responsive to the constantly changing group
membership. In particular, as users in the group continuously enter
and leave the group, the compositional goals and/or the pool of
media items available to achieve those goals may continually
change. Some embodiments may remove media items from the dynamic
playlist as users depart from the group, particularly in those
situations where the group members actually contribute the media
items to the pool. In such situations, the media items in the pool
could be removed from the pool as users leave, such as by
physically leaving a proximity or by logging out of a system. It
should be understood, however, that such a feature is not necessary
in all implementations, since a media item can be skipped if it is
no longer available when it is to be performed.
[0138] The third process may involve diversifying the group
playlist. The diversification process may involve shuffling media
items on the list as necessary to ensure that no segment of the
playlist is dominated by media items representative of the taste of
one or more group members. In some embodiments, additional
information about aesthetic properties of the media items might be
used to rearrange the order of the media items in the group
playlist to achieve specific aesthetic goals. Finally, in cases
where there are few users, and therefore for each user the playlist
includes a large number of items responsive to the taste of just
that user, some embodiments may replace some media items with
additional media items. These additional or supplemental media
items may not be provided by any of the members in the group, and
may be selected according to a diversifying criteria to bring more
variety to the group playlist.
[0139] One embodiment of the system may implement the processes
detailed in FIGS. 18-20. This embodiment may be analogized to the
automated evolution of a jukebox. Whereas a jukebox supplies local
music and requires explicit user interaction from the user to pick
desired music, these embodiments automatically build playlists
based on previously collected data about users that are proximal
(either physically or virtually) to the system.
[0140] In describing the embodiment of FIGS. 18-20 below, a process
of adding users to the system will be described first, then a
process for removing users, and finally the overall playlist
construction process is described, including how the process uses
information to build a targeted playlist that leverages knowledge
of proximal users for building a playlist.
[0141] In order for the system to "narrowcast" (i.e., to target
content to a specific set of users) a playlist for proximal users,
a mechanism may be provided to allows for discovery/detection of
proximal users. In one embodiment, a server process 2400 (as shown
in FIG. 24) may be provided using, for example, Bluetooth.RTM.
technology to allow users to "log in" to the system. Users who are
"logged in" to the system are considered proximal users, regardless
of their physical proximity to the other users or server. In some
embodiments, all proximal users immediately begin to affect the
playlist being constructed, which will be discussed in greater
detail later. It will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the
art that Bluetooth.RTM. is just one of many data discovery/entry
mechanisms that could be used to add users to the system. Other
embodiments may include explicit text entry from users, or even be
a zero-configuration protocol such as Apple's BonJour protocol.
[0142] In step 1 of one implementation of a Bluetooth.RTM. user
addition process, a Bluetooth.RTM. server with a predetermined
service UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) is provided. The
Bluetooth.RTM. specification uses UUIDs to identify services
uniquely across many devices. By using a UUID, a Bluetooth.RTM.
client is able to detect a specific service on a remote server.
[0143] In step 2, once a client Bluetooth.RTM. process has
connected with the system's Bluetooth.RTM. server 2400, the client
transmits user information to the server process 2400, as shown in
FIG. 25 at 2500. The server process 2400 will then attempt to
validate the user information, as indicated at 2501. If the user
validation process 2501 fails, then the user is rejected and is not
added to the proximal user list 2503 or the proximal device list
2504 by the user list modification process 2502. If the user
validation process 2501 succeeds, then the user is added to the
proximal user list 2503 and the user device is added to the
proximal device list 2504. The means for entry of the user and the
user device to the appropriate lists may vary, as would be
understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.
[0144] In order to provide real-time narrowcasted playlist content,
the system preferably updates and maintains the contents of the
proximal user list 2503 and proximal device list 2504 on a regular
basis. At the same time, the system may be configured to reduce the
chance that users are erroneously moved from either list. These
concerns may be addressed by using a User/Device Proximity
Detection Process 2600, as shown in FIG. 26, to identify which
users are proximal to the system. Process 2600, like various other
processes, may be implemented using Bluetooth.RTM. technology. The
system may be able to determine when users are no longer proximal
by, for example, detecting proximal devices and mapping the
proximal device list 2504 to the proximal user list 2503.
[0145] After a user has been discovered to no longer be proximal, a
User/Device Inactivity Detection Process 2601 may be used to begin
considering whether a user should be removed from the proximal user
list 2503 and the user's device removed from the proximal device
list 2504. The User Device User/Device Inactivity Detection Process
2601 may be implemented as a time-based process. The system may be
configured to remember the time when a user first became classified
as non-proximal. Then, for example, if a specific time limit has
been reached and the non-proximal user is identified as still being
non-proximal, the user may be removed from the proximal user list
2503, along with the user's device from the proximal device list
2504, by the User/Device Removal Process 2602. If a user is found
to be proximal by the User/Device Proximity Detection Process 2600
before the time limit of the User/Device Inactivity Detection
Process 2601 is reached, then the user and their device will be
left on the appropriate lists 2503/2504. It will be apparent to one
skilled in the art that specific implementations of the
aforementioned system may, but need not, rely on the use of
Bluetooth.RTM. or a time-based user removal strategy.
[0146] The Composite Playlist Builder process may rely on the User
Addition/Removal processes described above in order to determine
which users to which a playlist is to be narrowcasted. In one
implementation, the Composite Playlist Builder process may first
generate a list of media items that define a user taste, and then
repeat this step for all proximal users in the system.
[0147] As shown in FIG. 18, the process of generating a list of
media items that define user taste may be accomplished by examining
the users 1800 logged into the system and using information--i.e.,
media item taste data--to synthesize user taste, as shown at 1802.
The media item taste data may be gathered by the system
contemporaneously or, alternatively, it may be compiled into a list
or database from previously gathered media item taste data. Either
of the foregoing may be represented by step 1801 in FIG. 18. A list
of media items and/or media item metadata (collectively "media data
items") that contains information about the music that should be
narrowcasted to user 1800 may then be generated, as indicated at
1803. It should be noted that it is not necessary to have any users
logged into the system in order for a group playlist to be
generated. Preconfigured goals can be used when no/few users or
otherwise insufficient data is available to the system. This
process may then be repeated for each user 1800 who is logged into
the system.
[0148] The data in one embodiment may be cached to enable quick
lookup. As will be demonstrated in other steps, the data which
represents user taste may also provide the foundation from which
other steps derive information. In some embodiments, user taste may
be synthesized by first obtaining a set of the tracks that a user
has listened to recently and/or those that a user has ranked
highest. Of course, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art
that there are many different ways to synthesize user taste based
on collected user taste data.
[0149] As a second process of one implementation, aggregate
playlist goals may be computed based on results of the first
process and/or on a list of desired categories. Note that there
will be typically be one set of input media data items for each
user.
[0150] In order to compute aggregate playlist goals, each set of
media items and/or metadata that indicates user taste 1900, and/or
a predetermined or computed set of categories of interest 1901, may
be used as input to a User Taste Aggregation Process 1902, as shown
in FIG. 19. User Taste Aggregation Process 1902 may be used to
create a set of optimal playlist characteristics 1903 for a group
playlist that is intended to be narrowcasted to the proximal users.
In certain embodiments, media items and/or metadata that are
representative of more than one user's taste may not be viewed as
duplicative. This feature may allow media items and/or metadata
that are common between multiple users to be given increased levels
of importance by the User Taste Aggregation Process 1902. The User
Taste Aggregation Process 1902 may accept both user taste 1900 and
desired categories of interest 1901 as input. Categories of
interest 1901 are often (but not required to be) metadata
indicators that indicate the set of metadata to be used in
computing the optimal playlist characteristics 1903 for a
narrowcast playlist targeted at a particular group of users.
[0151] One embodiment uses a category set 1901 that comprises a
genre. Such a system may compute the frequency distribution of
genres in the play histories retrieved for each connected user. The
percentage of each genre may then be used as the optimal genre
distribution for the generated group playlist. Of course, a genre
is not the only category which could be used for generating a
playlist. It should also be understood that a raw frequency
distribution is not the only method for computing statistics about
any given category. Other similar implementations are not limited
to, but could employ, a weighting strategy or voting strategy to
determine desired levels of each feature.
[0152] After the aggregate playlist goals have been computed,
relevant media items for a user may be selected from the pool of
available media items. This process may then be repeated for each
proximal user in the system.
[0153] For example, in FIG. 20, the set of relevant media items
2002 that are associated with a given user may be
computed/selected. To do this, a process 2001 for each user may be
executed. Process 2001 may accept as input the set of media items
and/or metadata that indicates a user's taste 1803 and/or the set
of all available media items 2000. Process 2001 may also produce a
subset of available media items that are relevant media items for a
single user.
[0154] In one embodiment, process 2001 may be implemented by using
a media item recommender, such as those described in U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 11/346,818 titled "Recommender System for
Identifying a New Set of Media Items Responsive to an Input Set of
Media Items and Knowledge Base Metrics," which was previously
incorporated by reference. Process 2001 may also be augmented by
providing the media item recommender with the complete scope of
recommended media items from which to recommend a subset of media
items. In practice, this may be used to make sure that the
recommended media items are available for use by the composite
playlist builder application. For example, if there are
one-thousand available media items 2000 to choose from, process
2001 may ensure that the relevant media items 2002 are within the
one-thousand available media items 2000. This is analogous to a
jukebox that has a limited set of media from which to produce a
playlist. It should be apparent that the media items available to
process 2001 do not need to be resident on the same machine that is
executing process 2001. Any media item which is programmatically
obtainable via any protocol may be considered an available media
item.
[0155] After the relevant media items for each user have been
selected from the pool of available media items, the media items
may be categorized according to a set of desired attributes. For
example, as shown in FIG. 21, the relevant media items 2100 may be
categorized via a categorization process 2101 according to the
categories of interest 1901 used previously in the user taste
aggregation process 1902. Categorization process 2101 may be used
to produce a categorized list of relevant media items 2102. This
list may enable the overall system to pick one or more media items
based on one or more categories of interest 1901.
[0156] After the media items have been categorized according to a
set of desired attributes, the status of the current group
playlist's achievement of goals may be assessed/computed. For
example, with reference to FIG. 22, a goal assessment process 2201
may be used, along with categorization process 2101, to produce a
prioritized list of goals needing to be fulfilled 2202. The
categorization process 2101 may accept the current playlist 2200
and categories of interest 1901 as input. The categorization
process 2101 may use the categories of interest 1901 to categorize
the media items on the current playlist 2200. The output of the
categorization process 2101 may be sent to the goal assessment
process 2201 that may be used to determine how close the current
playlist 2200 characteristics are to the optimal playlist
characteristics 1903. The output of the goal assessment process
2201 may be a prioritized list of goals needing to be fulfilled
2202.
[0157] In one embodiment, a frequency distribution of genres may be
computed for the categorization process. The goal assessment
process may comprise subtracting the achieved genre percentages for
the current playlist from the target percentages for the optimal
playlist. It can then take the largest value difference as the
needed upcoming genre for the playlist. Of course, a variety of
other approaches can be used for computing playlist needs.
[0158] After the status of the current group playlist's achievement
of goals has been assessed/computed, a set of tracks may be
selected to add to the group playlist based on assessing current
needs for the playlist according to the goal achievement assessment
process previously performed. For example, with reference to FIG.
23, a set of one or more media items 2301 are selected for addition
to the current playlist 2200 by a playlist addition process 2302.
The media item selection process 2300 may accept as input the
prioritized list of goals needing fulfilled 2202, the categorized
list of relevant items 2102, and the current playlist 2200. The
media item selection process 2300 may attempt to fulfill the goals
in a prioritized manner in some embodiments, such that the most
important goal is fulfilled by picking a media item from the list
of relevant items 2102 that best fulfills the goal. If multiple
media items could help fulfill a goal, then a media item may be
selected at random from the list or in another fashion, such as by
some form of tiebreaker process.
[0159] The selected media item may also be subjected to a
diversification step, which may be used to ensure that the media
items being added to the playlist are not too similar to the
current playlist contents. In some embodiments, the diversification
step may comprise shuffling media items in the group playlist to
diversify at least one segment of the group playlist that includes
media data items that are overly representative of the tastes of
one or more users. The system may be configured such that, in
response to determining that the group playlist is dominated by
media items representative of the taste of one or more users,
removing at least one media data item from the group playlist that
corresponds with the taste of the one or more users.
[0160] In some embodiments, in order for a media item to be
selected and added to the current playlist 2200, it must pass
through the diversification process (unless the diversification
process eliminates all media items in the pool). Once a sufficient
set of media items have been selected, the set of media items 2301
may be sent to a playlist addition process 2302 for addition to the
active playlist. The playlist addition process 2302 may have the
capability of creating/updating the current playlist 2200 and, in
some implementations, initiating playing the media items in the
current playlist 2200.
[0161] In one embodiment, a media item may be selected from the
most needed genre for the current playlist by choosing at random
from relevant tracks categorized in the appropriate genre. The
diversification step may be used to ensure that no media item is
repeated in the group playlist for a predetermined period of time.
In other embodiments, the diversification step may also, or
alternatively, be used to ensure that no subset of media
items--such as artists, albums, genres, etc.--are repeated within a
given subset of the group playlist. For example, the
diversification step may be used to prevent media items from a
particular artist from being repeated within a seven track window
within the group playlist. If it is impossible to fulfill the
requirements of the diversification process, then a media item may
be chosen at random from all media items within the appropriate
genre. If multiple genres are identified with equal priority, then
the selected media item may be selected from any one of the
identified genres, or by some other tie-breaking selection
procedure.
[0162] The above description fully discloses the invention
including preferred embodiments thereof. Without further
elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the art can use the
preceding description to utilize the invention to its fullest
extent. Therefore the examples and embodiments disclosed herein are
to be construed as merely illustrative and not a limitation of the
scope of the present invention in any way.
[0163] It will be obvious to those having skill in the art that
many changes may be made to the details of the above--described
embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the
invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is
not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that
modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included
within the scope of the appended claims. For example, one of
ordinary skill in the art will understand various aspects of the
embodiments disclosed herein could be used in any system for
building and sharing a composite playlist from collective group
tastes on multiple media playback devices.
[0164] The scope of the present invention should, therefore, be
determined only by the following claims.
* * * * *